How Do I Get a Higher ROI for My Company Film?

Our clients come from different sectors within a diverse background, company and personal history. They are all unique in their own ways, however the one thing they have in common is a question they often ask when we hand them the finished product -  “the video is brilliant, any idea how I can get ROI from it?”

Not an unusual question, and of course all the effort we put into creating a corporate video, needs to be shown to the world. Otherwise, what's the point? 

In our decades of experience, we’ve come to realise the best combination to get this done is : to marry great video + relevant content.

But first…

Look at what the general consensus is saying about using (or not using) video for your business or organisation.

• HubSpot – they say that 79% of businesses do not use video marketing for their strategies in 2022.
• Tubular Insights - say that 64% of consumers purchase after watching branded social videos 
• Video Explainers - says that a business is 53 times more likely to appear on the first page of Google results if it utilises it on its webpage. The reason? The inclusion of video improves SEO, consequently boosting a business' place in the rankings.
• Livestream's survey - their surveys show that 80% of respondents would rather watch live videos from a brand than read a blog.
• Wordstream - mentions the fact that marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users.
• Slideshare - reveals that using video on a landing page can increase conversions by 80% or more.‍
• Inc.com - noted that around 90% of videos are watched on mobile phones, so the brands should make sure they use a mobile-first approach

There are numerous other statistics on this Insivia page for you to check out. The results speak for themselves. Now that we agree on how imperative it is to use video in your marketing strategies, let’s answer our clients' question.

Start With ‘What?’

Ask yourself:

• What’s your market or audience?
• What are their beliefs, interests, and daily habits?
• What is your audience thinking about and searching for?
• What’s their end goal, their ultimate need - is it personal or professional?
• What types of decisions are they making?
• Are you giving them valuable reasons to do business with you or buy from you?
• What type of marketing collateral are you rolling out?

A few things to contemplate in the beginning. Once you have your answers, move over to the content you are creating for the videos.

Videos That Make Waves

People love to watch videos about themselves or about people whom they can relate to. User-generated videos have more appeal and engagement. Taking into consideration your customer's pain points is a prerequisite, but do it through a single, short film, to get their attention, or a series of multiple short films following one another.

You don't need something elaborate. Some of our clients have digital platforms that are well designed, but the video content is conspicuous by its absence. The penny has dropped and they now urgently want to make a video to put on there. But what video content should they create? 

A good place to start is an identity film. It does what it says: it communicates in a lively and interesting way why the company exists and what it offers in a matter of minutes. 

The important thing is to make the viewing experience as pleasurable and useful as possible for the viewer. They want to feel that their 90 seconds or 2 minutes or however long it is, has been usefully spent.

Think about all aspects, such as the script, the text on screen, the music, and the camera angles. Our article on ‘4 Simple Ways Your Company Video Can Provoke the Right Audience Sentiment’ can prompt some great ideas for your next video or to discuss with your film production company. 

When viewers resonate with the videos they watch, you are more likely to capture their interest than creating something completely random and emotionless. It takes only 8 seconds to grab a viewer’s attention, in some cases 10 seconds will work. Convincing them to stick around isn’t as hard as you may think. 

In your video you might want to:

• Begin with a thought-provoking question for example: When do you feel most alive? What is your worst habit? How would your life change if you introduced product X to it? etc
• Use an eye-catching title, use: How, When, Why, and What, in front of your titles, as well as numbers. 
• Add intrigue and build-up: use intriguing music and narration from a voice-over artist.
• Try a mix of both professional and DIY videos (using your phone and digital tools)
• Build trust by using genuine people for example: everyday folk, colleagues, family members, children, bosses, friends, strangers (with their consent) etc 
• Caption it – most videos are watched in an office on mute and captions are also beneficial for your visually impaired audience.

Let them find you.

 How?

• One way is by using best SEO practices. Here are a few tips that can help.
• Using relevant keywords – both long-tail and short-tail
• Add relevant and simple descriptions
• Use handles and hashtags
• Use a visible call-to-action. Examples of ones that work: sign up today, click to subscribe, click here for more, add me to the list, download your eBook, watch now, register now and more. 
• Use a great tag-line when appropriate. A few interesting examples include the BMW series of adverts under one campaign: That's why we don't have front-wheel drives, or the Coca-Cola series of adverts for the Take the good side campaigns, and more, which can be found here. 

What Do Your Results Show?

Statistics from other sources are one thing but your measurements matter too. Get some analytics going, especially when you roll out a campaign. Measure the important metrics such as:

• Video shares, reposts and likes
• Number of views
• What percentage of the video did they watch

No need for elaborate or in-depth analysis, stick to the common measurements. This will help you decide what works and what doesn’t and where to make improvements for your next video.  

Powerful visual representation married with great storytelling makes for some great ROI. These, accompanied by sound, images and text, will help the principal message to seldom get lost.

Are We There Yet?

The above is a simple idea of how you can make the most of your video to gain ROI. With these as your base, and other more elaborate tactics, you should be seeing at least 4 things:

1. Higher click-through rates
2. An increase in readers and viewership
3. Make your boring ‘text-only’ blog posts more interesting
4. An increase in engagement rates

And eventually … Better sales and more profits for your business! Keep in mind - It will take time. But it can be done, and many of our clients are proof of it. Take a look at some of our clients' projects to see what we mean.

Video marketing will continue to grow at an enormous rate. This trend has been around for years and there is little sign of it abating. Consumers still want video: they stay on websites that have video for longer, are more likely to purchase a product/service if they have watched a video on it and as per the above stats, it is clear that research shows that video is integral to consumers forming emotional attachments to brands. 

This isn’t new; we are now awash with video content vying for our attention on all digital platforms. What is new, however, is that more businesses are waking up to the fact they need a sophisticated and thoroughly executed video strategy if they are to generate the necessary cut through. 

Businesses are matching the finesse of their content to the tastes of their audience.

If you’re looking for a way to send a visual message, no matter what it is, we can help you choose the best approach for your first or next video.